As a person who has bought a tie for their dad every fathers day for the last 10 years even though he never (ever) wears them, it's still pretty relevant to me. It's basically a joke at this point.

"The tie isn’t a generic masculine symbol, but a class-specific one."

... so you would have preferred what symbol to be a "generic masculine symbol"? A penis?

While a necktie doesn't HAVE to mean "man" (or even "father"), its use (and the cravat before it) was a central part of masculine fashion. True, it was a symbol of a certain level of class, but it was one for the male members of that class. Saying that "the tie isn't a generic masculine symbol" begs the question, "well, what is a generic masculine symbol"?

The alchemical sign? Well, that's not a "generic masculine symbol" either, since it is derived from European alchemy. (If you say that the symbol has become widespread, then what would make it more "generic" than a tie?)

The "neutral human" symbol often seen on bathrooms and street signs (i.e., the adult-sized one without a dress or long hair) are often critiqued on this blog as being problematic. (They are also culturally derived, so it also suffers from the problem that the alchemy symbol has.)

The face of the "generalized male"? How does one go about doing this? And does this then mean that male=father? Also, what age would this person be? What race? Etc., etc., etc.

At the end, Google, given a choice of only four different characters (five if you capitalize the first G), went with the white collar option. (Note, though, that many men do own ties, even before they became fathers.) I'm personally a little disappointed at the decision to only go with a major modification of the "l"; and in a way that wasn't too surprising or inspiring. Now, if they had done a major make-over (like many of their logo make overs), it would have been fun (and possibly could have included more forms of "father" than implicitly summarized in the necktie).

However, Google didn't do this, nor did you suggest a plausible alternative to the problem that you posed (specifically the manner in which you posed it): "The tie isn’t a generic masculine symbol, but a class-specific one." What is your alternative "generic masculine symbol"?

I would love to see a Google-logo on Mother's Day that celebrates working women! That would be awesome.

When I saw the Google logo this morning I laughed a little because a tie is one of the last things I would ever think of to symbolize my father-- a (skilled) manual laborer who only wears a tie a couple of times a year, at most.

It certainly is a symbol of a particular socio-economic class. If they had chosen a symbol to represent my father's workplace and role as bread-winner (though my mom makes more money than he does) it would probably be a wrench. But wrenches are taken as symbols of masculinity more generally, and not fatherhood. Interesting.

I sent my dad a card with a lawn mower on it. For some reason, that symbolized him much more than a tie does...even though he is a white-collar breadwinner who wears suits and ties to work.

Well, my dad doesn't wear a tie to work. He's still a cool dad. Happy Father's Day to all dads! Even the one's without ties!

Maybe for Mother's Day Google can turn its two "Os" into breasts.

Ehhh, I've always seen the tie as a symbol of being a male, not a symbol of class or workplace. Ties are typically not worn by women, and ties are often worn by men outside the workplace - on dates, to weddings, and on various special occasions. My (single) Dad has worked labour jobs my whole life (picked me up from school in bright orange overalls, heck yes), yet I can still reconcile the tie symbol with him. 

It always strikes me as strange when people get upset by this blog pointing things out. Yes, a tie is a masculine symbol. Yes, it actually only symbolizes a subset of fathers. Is that really a complaint? I see it more as an interesting observation.

It's also quite disturbing how the symbol of father's day, or even the stereotype of  a father, has nothing at all to do with the relationship between the father and child. I've heard of surveys where the father ends up as the fith most important person to a child. Tragically enough it seems that the definition of a father isn't to be found in the relatiohsip to a child - it's in the abscense of a relationship to a child.

I think it's a reference to the traditional Father's Day gift, not to work attire.  

As a man who had his first child in January, I've joked many times that I fully expected to come in third (after my wife and child), but I had hoped to at least place in the running.  I could cite numerous examples of how men were actively dissuaded from taking part in the labor/delivery/recovery process (including being told not to use the bathroom in my wife's recovery room).  Lately, I've found difficulties finding "Parent's Groups" and instead must attend "Mom's Groups." 

This serves as an example to me of how patriarchy does not serve to limit the options of the subjagated alone but rather everyone involved.  Unfortunately, current conceptions of masculinity seem to discourage any inkling of a nurturing father figure.

It's for this exact reason I have a very hard time picking out Father's Day cards for my dad - he hasn't worked in decades and never liked wearing ties anyway - he doesn't golf or grill, or any of that ridiculous tripe you find on Hallmark cards and so doesn't fit the mold of marketed-to for Father's Day. It's all very silly, really - and I doubt most dads fit that mold.

I went back and looked at all of the Father's Day doodles -- and the Mother's Day doodles -- to think about what the gender, race and class implications of all of 22 of them might be.

So does anyone have any ideas as to how to portray Father's day without using typical masculine symbols? It's one thing to point out flaws, it's another to come up with useful suggestions.

I'm not being cynical in an attempt to disagree with the purpose of the post, it's just tiring to read it and then go through a bunch of comments parroting what's already been said on this blog before.

Perhaps it's my bias, I'm not a fan of deconstruction. I'd like to be able to replace a problem with a workable solution.

Great observation in regards to social class. This really does emphasize and prop up the ideology of the 1950s fatherhood. Was it really truly that way or created in order to keep hierarchies in place?

I kind of assumed that the tie was just referring to it's being the traditional, cliche Father's Day gift. My father didn't wear a tie to work, but he almost always got one from one of us on Father's Day. "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

My dad is a waiter, does construction, and water heater installation (2-3 jobs at a time) and he never wears ties.  I kind of laugh at the tie imagery of Father's day because my dad hates ties so much.  Even at his fanciest, I've seen him wearing a bolo tie.  I don't think I remember ever seeing him wear a regular tie (I'm 25).  I know, however, as kids we did buy him ties just because that's the traditional easy dad gift, despite knowing he didn't wear them.

more amusingly to me is the fact that I recently visited Google, and there was nary a tie in sight.

I saw this on Sunday and was disappointed that Google couldn't come up with a better, more creative way of honoring dads. I was raised by a loving, nurturing single dad, who worked hard every day in and out of the home, but never wore a tie. This logo seemed like a hurried afterthought to me; it definitely did not represent my warm feelings toward my father.

This pissed me off when I saw it, too. My Dad *was* a breadwinner, a single parent (for whom my sister and I also celebrate mother's day) but he NEVER wore a tie. He was a professional, a doctor, with tennis shoes and callouses.